The Australian Candidate Study surveys are conducted in parallel with the AES surveys of voters, and have been conducted at each federal election since 1987, with the exception of the 1998 election. All but the 1987 study have been funded by the Australian Research Council.
The 2016 Australian Election Study had two components: the “Voters Survey” of Australian citizens eligible to vote in federal elections; and the “Candidates Survey” of 2016 Australian political candidates representing the four major political parties. Many of the questions in the 2016 Candidate Survey have also been asked of Voters, allowing aggregate comparisons to be made between the views of Candidates and Voters. Other sections cover the candidate's political background, the election campaign, experience of the candidate for political office and their personal background.
For the first time, the 2016 Candidates Survey used a wholly online survey approach. Survey invitations and tailored reminders were sent via email and contained a unique survey link. In total, 591 candidates were selected and invited to participate in the survey. Of these, 182 (30.8%) went on to complete the survey (includes eligible partial completes).

2016 Australian political candidates from the four major parties (Australian Labour Party, Liberal Party, National Party and Greens)

Date of Collection

Start date - Data Collection: 2016-07-07

End date - Data Collection: 2016-07-07

Time Period

Time Period - Start: 2016-07-07

Time Period - End: 2016-07-07

Geographic Coverage

National

Geographic Unit

State

Methodology

Content

Sampling Procedure

No sampling (total universe)

Data Kind

Survey data

Response Rate

For the Candidates Survey, 182 responses were received from a total sample of 591, giving a raw response rate of 30.8%. Adjusted response rates were calculated by removing the “undelivered” sample (n=11), giving an adjusted response rate of 31.4%.

Data Access

Content

Access Conditions

The depositor may be informed (by the archive) of use being made of the data, in order to comment on that use and make contact with colleagues of similar interests.

Deposit Information

Content

Depositor

McAllister, Ian

Deposit Date

2016-11-01

Version

Version 1.0

Other

Content

Unit of Analysis

Individual

Mode of Data Collection

Web-based self-completion

Comment

The Australian Candidate Study surveys are conducted in parallel with the AES surveys of voters, and have been conducted at each federal election since 1987, with the exception of the 1998 election. All but the 1987 study have been funded by the Australian Research Council.
The 2016 Australian Election Study had two components: the “Voters Survey” of Australian citizens eligible to vote in federal elections; and the “Candidates Survey” of 2016 Australian political candidates representing the four major political parties. Many of the questions in the 2016 Candidate Survey have also been asked of Voters, allowing aggregate comparisons to be made between the views of Candidates and Voters. Other sections cover the candidate's political background, the election campaign, experience of the candidate for political office and their personal background.
For the first time, the 2016 Candidates Survey used a wholly online survey approach. Survey invitations and tailored reminders were sent via email and contained a unique survey link. In total, 591 candidates were selected and invited to participate in the survey. Of these, 182 (30.8%) went on to complete the survey (includes eligible partial completes).

Label: PREA10. The next section includes questions that are relevant if you were a member of the House of Representatives or Senate prior to the election. Please select which of the following applies to you:

Variable Name: PREA10

Nesstar ID: au.edu.anu.ada.ddi.01366_V66

Invalid Cases: 14

Valid Cases: 168

Variable Position: 66

Pre-question Text: The next section includes questions that are relevant if you were a member of the House of Representatives or Senate prior to the election.

Question Text: Thinking back over the past year, about how many hours per month did you usually devote to the following activities within your electorate?
- Travelling between your electorate and Canberra

Question Text: What was the primary aim of your campaign? Where would you place yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means 'to attract as much attention as possible for me as a candidate' and 10 means 'to attract as much attention as possible for my party'?